Robert and Mildred Bliss retired to their Georgetown home, Dumbarton Oaks, in 1933. They began adding to their already extensive collection of artwork and reference books, anticipating the creation of a research institute. In 1940, the Blisses gave their property to Harvard University, creating Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection."Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection is an institute in Washington, DC, administered by the Trustees for Harvard University. It supports research and learning internationally in Byzantine, Garden and Landscape, and Pre-Columbian studies through fellowships and internships, meetings, and exhibitions. Located in residential Georgetown, Dumbarton Oaks welcomes researchers at all career stages who come to study its books, objects, images, and documents. It opens its doors to the public to visit its historic Gardens, designed by Beatrix Farrand; its Museum, with world-class collections of art; and its Music Room, for lectures and concerts. The institute disseminates knowledge through its own publications (such as Dumbarton Oaks Papers and symposium volumes) as well as through the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library (published by Harvard University Press). Dumbarton Oaks also makes accessible ever more of its resources freely online." -http://www.doaks.org/aboutAmong its many other activities, in January of 1963, Dumbarton Oaks and the trustees of Harvard University assumed all fieldwork activities formerly initiated by the Byzantine Institute. The Dumbarton Oaks fieldwork committee directed and sponsored new fieldwork projects in Turkey (Church of St. Polyeuktos), Cyprus (Church of the Panagia Amasgou at Monagri), Syria (Dibsi Faraj), and present-day Macedonia (Bargala).

Dumbarton Oaks1940-Present

A non-commercial association that was founded in New York City on July 28, 1926. It was an association that promoted home motion pictures and helped amateur filmmakers.

Amateur Cinema League1926-

Published

Minimal

Draft

US

DcWaDIC

Based on the film edge codes, clothing, and garden scenes, sections of the film can be dated to the mid-1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. The combined footage illustrates Dumbarton Oaks when it was still a private residence, as well as when it became an institute of Harvard University in 1940. The film contains garden views, winter scenes, and summer scenes at the pool, as well as glimpses of Mildred Barnes Bliss and her friends at the Orangery and Robert Woods Bliss in the gardens.

In 2001, ICFA staff assessed and inspected ICFA's entire moving image collection at the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center of the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Human Studies Film Archives. During inspection, ICFA staff determined that most of the films had started to suffer from vinegar syndrome, a common type of deterioration with acetate (or safety) films. The Dumbarton Oaks Gardens film, along with the other 16mm films from the Byzantine Institute, were sent to Colorlab in Rockville, MD to be digitized and re-formatted for preservation in October 2011. The reformatting project was completed in March 2012.

This record was created by Shalimar White on January 31, 2014.

The film has been digitized and is available on the Dumbarton Oaks website (http://www.doaks.org/library-archives/icfa/special-projects/moving-image-collection/dumbarton-oaks-gardens) and through Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/65327049).

Film reels are stored in ICFA's cold storage for preservation purposes. Researchers may access the digitized version of the film online (see below).

Duplication of materials in the collection may be governed by copyright and other restrictions.